Heart of The Contract
by Ricrod
Summary: Hei is summoned as Tiffania's familiar a little before the main events of the series. This time, things will be different. Rated M just in case. *Hiatus, feel free to use the idea*
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue: Encounter**

The sun shone majestically, from the highest point in the sky, directly to a small forest in Albion. The chill of the morning was still present, although rapidly departing, while the faintest hint of dew was still present on the grass. Still, it was a lovely morning, something unusual for the season, since even in the last days of winter, the climate in Albion tended to be harsh.

Yet, the clarity of the sky above declared that it was only going to get more pleasant, while a young lady started her mourning routine in the small village. After that, she quickly prepared herself to meet with someone, and left the small, desolated house. Her destination was an empty part of the forest, far from the village.

For Tiffania Westwood this was also a good day in another area, unrelated to climate. Her older, sisterly figure, Matilda had decided to teach her the familiar summoning ritual before going back to her work in Tristain. Tiffania did not had any knowledge of magic, the only spell she could use was one passed down to her by her mother years ago.

Even so, she was able to use magic, and thus she was able to perform this ritual, created by Brimir himself and performed by every mage that knew how. From the most powerful or favored royal to the less fortunate noble's bastard scion. While the process itself is simple, the mages are still beginners when they cast it, and because of that a more experienced mage is necessary for supervising the whole procedure.

"Are you ready, Tiffa?" Matilda was a bespectacled woman in her twenties, she possessed the aura of an intellectual, of a woman who's always in deep thought. While her stays with Tiffania were small and far in between, she still regarded her as a valuable friend and trusted confidant.

"Yes! I'm prepared"

"Remember Tiffa, a familiar can become eyes and hands of a mage. This spell will reaches all across Halkegania in search of most compatible familiar and summons it fort to bond it with the caster for life"

Tiffania did not had a strong desire for a magical creature to act as "another pair of eyes and hands" in her name. She desired, for a moment, for something or someone who could take away her solitude and loneliness.

"Alright then! Let's proceed, just focus your mind and magic to call for the unseen familiar in your heart"

Tiffania closed her eyes and raised her wand in front of the magic circle, pointing sightly towards the sky, and started chanting.

" My name is Tiffania Westwood. In the name of the Pentagon of the five elements, carry out my fate and summon my familiar!"

She could feel power being called fort, while the tip of the wand started to glow and a small green portal appeared in the sky.

[-x-]

In the middle of the Hell's Gate, a confused Hei stared at a small green portal, flickering in front of him. It had appeared just after his conversation with Amber, but now neither her nor Ying where there. He had lost sight of them for a brief moment, more than plenty of time in the Hell's Gate. He briefly wondered how this come to happen.

Amber had ranted a little about how the reason Xing didn't tell him about Evening Primrose was because he's a human, an existence different from contractors and how he still was one. He came to understand it, how her sister gave him her powers. About the changes in Contractors and Dolls. Yet, he did not know what to do. In the end he wasn't a contractor, his powers didn't require a compensation nor he had lost his emotions; regardless, he was a dull person, one that could not be classified as 'human', not with his abilities.

Who was he anyway?

BK-201? Lee Hyunsik? Hei? Li Shengshun? Nanashi Kuroda? The black reaper?

A member of the CIA? an assassin for the Syndicate?

…A contractor? A human? Neither? Both?

For less than a second, his will wavered, he desired for the same amount of purpose and self-reassurance that he had when trying to protect his sister, all those years ago. When he reacted to the flickering portal, was already too late and he was engulfed whole by the light.

* * *

Alright, this idea was in my mind for some time, then I forgot about it and a couple of days before it somehow resurrected in my head, begging to be written. I hope this is not a crossover already done before, probably it is, since there are thousands of FoZ fic in the internet.  
I will be updating this once or twice a week.  
Sorry for bad grammar and all that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter One: Summoning**

Hei tried to make sense of it.

He was in Albion, an Island Nation, floating in the sky due to the power of something called 'windstones', around 3000 miles above sea level, one the five principal countries in Halkegania.

A kingdom where right now there was murmurs of a revolution against the crown by a group called Reconquista.

He had been summoned here by Tiffania, a… mage, the same one that kissed him nearly an hour before, inscribing something in his chest. The same one that have been explaining the situation alongside an older woman called Matilda.

The whole deal looked like a scam, another of the illusions created in the Hell's Gate to mess with his mental state, but the pain he felt earlier was real. His entire body had heated up, and in the middle of his chest strange letters appeared, etched on his very skin. The pain passed quickly, but the questions in his mind doubled.

When he turned his head towards the sky, he was greeted by a sight that made his blood run cold… there were two moons in the day sky, that immediately told him that he wasn't on earth anymore.

Hei failed at making sense of it.

"Well, it sure was a surprise, to summon a human as a familiar" The older woman stated with a huff, after she had deemed herself done the explanation.

"Honestly, you don't even look like most in Albion."

"Uhm, sir…" at that point the blonde girl with strange ears decided to speak. She was, apparently, the one who 'summoned' him.

"Right, we forgot to ask, what's your name?"

He considered the question for a moment. Still confused, he could infer that there probably wasn't anyone he knew of around, nor his enemies, nor his allies.

"…Hei" He stated, somewhat vaguely, while channeling his best acting to appear friendly, it had served him well many times in the past, mostly in infiltration missions.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but is there a way for me to return?"

"There is way out of this." Matilda replied. "The contract will null after one of the parts dies… but there's no way I would allow Tiffania to be hurt"

"That probably wouldn't send me back either"

"Well, for now we should arrange a place to accommodate you"

 _ **...**_

That night Hei went outside the small house and began considered his options. Yet, most of his thoughts became null when he stared at the sky and realized that the stars in the firmament were true stars, not the contractor ones he had been gazing for so many years back in earth. He could not help but stare to the sky in awe.

"…Hei?" He shifted his attention towards the blonde girl, Tiffania, that was calling out to him.

"Yes, don't worry. I was just gazing at the stars" The girl seemed a little confused at his statement, but she collected herself pretty quickly.

"I see, do you like the stars Hei?"

"… I do, and tonight they look beautiful" More that any time before. He thought, for himself, how much he wanted others to see the same sky.

"…yes, I agree"

They stayed like that for a while, gazing at the night sky, appreciating the stars.

Unknown to both of them, a new star had appeared that morning, alongside BK-201.

 **[-x-]**

Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, nicknamed "The Zero", prepared herself.

It was the first day of spring, and right now she was standing amongst her peers, each one of similar age and clothes, while they interacted with their newly summoned familiars.

The Summoning ritual was a sacred practice of the Tristain Academy of Magic, it was performed near the start of a student's second year and was the moment that they contracted an animal to act as their familiar for the rest of their lives. A general rule of thumb for the ritual was that a summon represented their summoner, for example a fire mage would summon a fire based animal. In addition, the more powerful the familiar the stronger the mage was. There were exceptions, of course, the Headmaster (Headmaster seems more fitting than principal, more Hogwartsy) was an example of such, being an incredibly skilled and powerful mage despite his familiar being an albino field mouse, yet those didn't register well in the minds of the young and impressionable mage apprentices.

She was determined, she was going to prove that she wasn't a failure. Throughout her whole life all her spells had ended in explosions, she was ridiculed in class and was at the verge of expulsion for incapacity. Nothing more than a failure, a disgrace to her mother and family. A zero.

But no more. If she could summon a proper familiar then that would prove she had potential, and the problem was not hers. Despite that, she couldn't stop herself from fearing the results of failure.

"Is that everyone?" asked a bald, older man. He was one of the teachers at the academy, rumored to be a powerful fire mage that served in the military. However, his normal, carefree attitude did not give a hint of such past.

"Not quite Mr. Colbert, the Zero hasn't gone yet."

"Alright then, come forward Miss Vallière and perform the ritual,"

Immediately the class started whispering about the possibilities, apparently everyone was betting that she would summon an explosion just like every other time she tried her hand at magic.

"Hey, Louise, show us that 'great familiar' you said you were going to summon!" An insult, veiled like a challenge. She tried to not mind it.

"Of course," she stated confidently before turning her head away as her hand shook in nervous anticipation before she whispered too low for anyone to hear, "please."

Pointing her wand out and raising it to point at the sky she proceeded to chant an incantation that left many looking at her with bemused expressions at her strange call.

{My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call, I wish from very bottom of my heart, answer to my guidance and appear!} She boldly proclaimed those words, just before she proceeded to wave her wand down before her, and only for a large explosion to shake the courtyard they were everybody was standing.

 **[-x-]**

He appeared in the middle of an explosion, that's probably the best way to describe it.

At first he waited for the smoke to clear and let him analyze the situation, just to reveal a group of strangely clothes teens that were talking in …some weird French dialect.

"In particular, a… Pink-haired kid was excitedly proclaiming something about succeeding, but her speech was far too rapid and unclear for him to follow properly.

It's said that all contractors possess a clear, analytical mind, that no matter the situation they're able to calculate the logical course of action. This was not because they lacked emotions, but rather that they simply don't let their emotions enter the equation

He may be trapped in the body of a cat, but his mind is still the one of a contractor and his ability to decide solely on reason has not been lost.

And so, Mao, still trapped in the body of a cat, took the only logical course of action.

"…Meow?"


End file.
